Sunday, October 04, 2015

Four KC Call Ups for International Break

Sporting Kansas City will have four players representing their country this coming week in international play. The good news for KC fans is that Sporting doesn't have any games to play while the four are gone. All should hopefully be back in time for Kansas City's trip to San Jose on October 16th, although their level of participation may be in question.

Three of the four with call ups will be participating in very important games. First, Krisztian Nemeth has been called up by Hungary for their pair of European Cup qualifiers. Hungary currently sits in third place in group F behind Northern Ireland (17) and Romania (16). Hungary will host the Faroe Islands in Budapest on October 8th before finishing out group play on 11th in Greece. The likelihood of qualifying as one of the top two teams in the group seems a far stretch at this point since Romania hosts Finland and travels to the Faroe's while Northern Ireland hosts Greece and travels to Finland. Both teams should be able to find the points to automatically advance. Hungary does though have an opportunity to qualify as the best third place team. The key is to get a win against the Faroe Islands, hope Greece stays last in their group, hope the Ukraine doesn't win their game against Spain on the 12th and hope Albania drops points in one of their two games. While that's a number of things that need to happen it's not beyond the realm of possibility.

The other two with a big game in this international window is Matt Besler and Graham Zusi. The pair have been recalled to the US national for their CONCACAF Cup match up against Mexico to decide who will represent the region at the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia. The match will take place October 10th at the Rose Bowl. Besler's recall was expected especially with John Brooks, who has become Jurgen Klinsmann's favorite option at the left center back position, not being called in for the game. Zusi's recall is a little bit surprising, but his inclusion will give the US another option on the wing. The pair will also be available for the USA's friendly on the 13th in New York against Costa Rica.

The fourth player called up was Marcel de Jong for Canada. The Canadians are preparing for World Cup qualifiers in November by playing Ghana at RFK Stadium on October 13th.